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Jamie Cope unlucky to run into the best of Ronnie O’Sullivan

Phil Yates

December 14 2007, 12:00am, The Times

There is no more stimulating sight in snooker than Ronnie O’Sullivan in full flow and the sport’s most charismatic figure was in overdrive during his 9-2 win over Jamie Cope in the quarter-finals of the Maplin UK Championship in Telford, Shropshire, last night.

At the corresponding stage of the event last year, a troubled O’Sullivan walked out after only five frames against Stephen Hendry, incurring the wrath of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association and a £20,000 fine. That was the bad, even ugly, but against Cope his performance was several notches up from good. Having trailed 2-1, O’Sullivan won eight consecutive frames, compiled two century breaks and rediscovered his accuracy when potting from distance. His pot success rate for the match was 96…